First European Union Reference Centre for Animal Welfare

The establishment of Animal Welfare Reference Centres is laid down in the Official Controls Regulation (Articles 95 & 96). In 2018 the Commission designated a first European Union Reference Centre for Animal Welfare:This first Centre entitled EURCAW-Pigs focusses on pig welfare since improving the enforcement of the legislation of pigs is one of the Commission's priorities in the area of animal welfare. EURCAW-Pigs provides scientific and technical knowledge to Competent Authorities of EU member states and their support bodies (science, training, communication), for the official controls on pig welfare requirements laid down in the European pig welfare legislationThe partners in the consortium have extensive experience at national level in providing advice to their respective ministries on animal welfare related topics. They are also recognised as internationally leading institutes on animal welfare issues. Each partner has a relatively small team of 3-4 key staff who work in the Centre, and a much larger group of animal welfare experts from their own and affiliated institutes which they can call upon for additional support. EURCAW-Pigs receives its funding from DG SANTE of the European Commission, as well as the national governments of the three partners forming the CentreAarhus University (AU) Denmark (DK)Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) – Germany (DE)Wageningen Livestock Research (WLR) The Netherlands (NL)